Red Roses
by kmacdonald
Summary: Jennifer Thompson moves to Scotland with her parents and her young brother, Tony. Tony is a strange kid, and his new obsession with vampires is starting to get on Jenn's last nerve. Then she discovers that vampires ARE very real, and that they aren't at all what she would have thought.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note: Hello, everybody! Thank you so much for reading my story. I've been thinking about this for a long time, but just never got the chance to put it down on paper…or computer, I guess. **

**This is a 'The Little Vampire' fan-fiction, based off the movie but to make it work, I have to make a few changes, mostly about the timeline. It's going to be a romance, so I need more than two days to make that work; not everyone can be Romeo and Juliet and fall in love immediately. **

**So thanks again for reading and I hope you enjoy. I really enjoy reading reviews; they make me ridiculously happy, so feel free to do so. Even reading flames make me feel good, because I love constructive criticism. So thanks for any of those. **

**And I do not own 'The Little Vampire'. At all. **

I stood in the doorway to my bedroom and looked around. I had never realized that it was so big until now; it looked so empty with no furniture and bare walls. I sighed heavily and turned to leave, closing the door behind me. I walked down the hall and saw that the rest of my family was ready to go, and that they were just waiting for me. Mom and Dad were standing in the living room, talking to one another in low voices. They stopped when they heard me coming, though, so I didn't have any idea what they were saying.

"You ready to go, kiddo?" Dad asked cheerfully.

Despite my current depressed state, I was smiling when I nodded. "Yeah, I'm ready," I said. "I was just saying goodbye to the house."

"Good," he replied. "We have to leave, or we'll miss our flight. Where's Tony?"

"I'm not sure," Mom said. "I haven't seen him all morning."

"He's probably hiding in the back yard," I said. "I'll go look for him."

"Alright," Dad agreed. "You're Mom and I will go get in the car; but hurry up, would you."

"Will do," I replied, heading towards the back door.

Our house (old house now, I guess) was in a subdivision in San Diego, but it had a decent backyard with a ton of trees and other bushes. In the very back corner of the yard, right next to the neighbour's fence, there was a clump of bushes that I used to use as a fort when I was little. I had a strange suspicion that that was where I would find my brother.

"Tony?" I called out as I got closer. "Are you in there?"

"No!" came the shouted reply.

I smirked and crawled through the bushes to where Tony was sitting, his knees pulled up to his chest, sulking.

"Come on, buddy," I said, sitting down beside him. "We really have to get going."

"I don't want to go," Tony muttered, burying his face into his arms.

"I know you don't, Tone," I said, patting him shoulder. "I don't really want to go either, but neither one of us has a choice."

"Why is Dad making us move?" Tony mumbled, not looking at me. "Does he not make enough money here?"

"No, he makes lots here," I replied. "This is, well, it's just one of those chances that you just can't pass up. Look, Tony, Dad really wants this job. Maybe when it's all done, we'll come home."

"I don't want to go to Scotland," Tony muttered again.

"Do you know what?" I said, trying to cheer him up. "I've heard that Scotland is a very mystical kind of place."

"What do you mean?" For the first time since I had joined him in the bushes, Tony lifted his head up off of his arms to look at me; I knew that I had peaked his interest.

"Well, there are tons of stories about the different kinds of magical creatures that live in Scotland."

"Like what?" he asked.

"Like fairies and goblins and leprechauns," I said, using my best 'mystical' voice. "And, of course, the Loch Ness Monster; we can't forget about her. There are all kinds of cool creatures in Scotland."

Tony looked at me over the top of his glasses like I was some kind of idiot. "Leprechauns are in Ireland, stupid."

"Oh, whatever," I scoffed, starting to stand up. "The rest of them are in Scotland."

"I bet it's more like monsters," Tony said, climbing to his feet and walking with me towards the house. "Like ghosts and zombies and vampires."

With a chuckle, I wrapped my arm around my little brother's shoulders and led him around front to where our parents were waiting anxiously for us.

"Hurry up, guys, we're going to be late!" Dad yelled as we climbed into the car. "Where were you, Tony? You knew we had to leave early."

"He just needed a few minutes, Dad," I said quickly, standing up for my little brother. "We're good now; and besides, we've got an hour before we have to be at the airport. Relax."

Dad was still angry, but he didn't say another word as he pulled out of the drive-way and onto the road.

The drive to the airport was uneventful. Mom pointed out things to us to say goodbye to that we had passed nearly every day, and this seemed to make Tony even more depressed, so I tried to keep him occupied by playing a game of 'I Spy', which quickly grated on Dad's already strained nerves. We were told to sit in our seats and be quiet, which we grudgingly did. Tempers were running high and, to say the least, our last car ride on American soil was far from enjoyable.

We made it through customs without any problems, checked our luggage, and got to our terminal just in time to board the plane twenty minutes before our scheduled departure time.

When we looked at our tickets, Mom and I realized that were not all seated together. Two of our seats were together at the back of the plane and the other two were together at the very front. Mom tried to figure out a seating arrangement, going through ever single pro and con to see what would be the best way to do it, making it much more difficult than it needed to be. Finally, I interrupted her.

"Mom, you and Dad go sit at the back," I told her. "Tony and I will sit up front."

"Are you sure?" she asked, looking anxious. "I could -"

"It's fine, Mom," I said quickly. "Now hurry up; you're blocking the aisle."

Mom looked behind her to see that she was, in fact, blocking the path of the four Asian people that were waiting behind her.

Muttering apologies to them, and the people that she ran into on her way, Mom hurried to the back of the plane, where Dad had already taken his seat.

Tony sat in his seat by the aisle and sighed. He looked very close to tears, and I couldn't help but feel bad for my little brother. I had always been a fairly outgoing person and made friends easily; Tony, on the other hand, was a little…weird, there was no other word to describe him. Tony was very opinionated, and sassy, and if someone didn't agree with him, he could be downright rude. He was used to always getting his own way, so when he didn't, he sulked for hours. It all came with being the baby of the family; Tony was spoiled rotten.

"Come on, buddy, try to cheer up," I said quietly to him. "Think of it like we're on an adventure."

"I don't want to," he growled, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Tony," I warned. "I am not going to sit here for the entire flight and talk to you if you're going to be cranky. I'll just put my headphones in and ignore you."

"No, don't do that," he cried, looking at me in horror. Tony was one of those people that needed everyone's undivided attention. "I'll be good, I promise."

"Good."

The stewardesses were walking around the plane, making sure that everyone's seats were in the correct position and that everything was ready for take-off when I suddenly had an idea to get my brother's mind off the imminent move.

"Hey, Tony," I said to him. "Do you want the window seat? Then you can see the city from the sky."

"Okay!"

I smiled as my brother and I quickly switched seats, and then I helped Tony to refasten his seatbelt just as the plane began to move.

"Oh, we're moving, Jenn, we're moving!" Tony cried out as he gripped my hand tightly.

"I know, buddy," I laughed. "Now keep watching."

The plane took several minutes to roll away from the terminal and onto the runway, and then it began to pick up speed.

"Wow, we're going really fast," Tony said as he was pushed back against his seat from the speed. "Oh, look! We're lifting off."

I peeked over his shoulder and saw that we were no longer touching the ground, and that we were quickly gaining altitude. I glanced at Tony and saw that his face was completely lit up with excitement; he didn't seem to be thinking about Scotland at all. Point one for Jennifer.

For the next hour, Tony asked questions about the plane that I didn't know the answers to. It was quickly getting old. I reached into my purse, which was sitting on the floor between my feet, and pulled out my iPod.

"Hey," Tony whined. "You said you wouldn't."

"I did not," I replied. "But here, you take one and then we can both listen."

That cheered him up. "Okay."

I handed my iPod over to him, and he began to go through the music on it. After several minutes, he looked up at me.

"You have got the weirdest music on here," he groaned. "I don't even know what half of this is."

"If you don't want to pick, then I'll just take it back," I told him, reaching out for it, but he pulled the iPod out of reach.

"Okay, okay, I'll find something," he sighed. He played the first song he could find, and I closed my eyes to listen to the melody.

Before long, Tony was fast asleep, his head leaning against my shoulder. I put the armrest up so I could put my arm around him and I smiled. He was too cute when he was sleeping. I closed my eyes and began to drift off as well.


	2. Chapter 2

"Wake up! Jennie, wake up!"

A hard smack to the top of my head finally woke me from my dream. I winced and rubbed the sore spot gingerly as I opened my eyes to look into Tony's face.

"You have better got a good excuse for that," I growled at him.

"We're here," he said simply.

That was good enough of a reason for me. Almost immediately, I forgot about my aching head and pulled up the blind so I could see outside. I was surprised to see that we were already at the terminal. I hadn't realized that we had landed, let alone stopped moving. I looked around me and saw that half of the people on the plane had already gotten off.

"Are you two ready to go?" Mom asked as she and Dad came closer to the front. "You've got everything?"

"Yes, Mom," Tony said. "I have my bag." He clambered awkwardly over the top of me so he was standing with our parents.

"And you, Jennifer?"

"Yeah," I replied, leaning down to grab my purse. I took my iPod from Tony and stuffed it into the bag before unbuckling myself and standing up. "I'm ready to go."

I followed my parents and Tony off of the plane and to the luggage carousel where we waited almost half of an hour for our suitcases. Mine were the first ones that we saw, being white with a brightly colored floral print, and Dad helped me drag all three off and onto the floor before they slipped back out of sight.

"What do you have packed in there?" Dad grunted as he pulled the largest of my bags off the conveyer belt. "I thought we told you to pack just the essentials."

"I did pack 'just the essentials'," I replied. "Just all of my clothes and my books and my computer; that's it."

Dad opened his mouth to say something to me, but then he stopped and shook his head and turned back to look for his own bags. Mom and Tony were both standing to the side, each holding their single piece of luggage. Mom smiled when she saw me struggling to lug all of my suitcases.

"Here, Sweetheart," she said, holding out a hand. "Let me take one of those for you. I don't want you to wear yourself out; we've got a long drive ahead of us."

"I hope it's not too long," I said as we followed Dad, now hauling a large black suitcase behind him, through the airport.

I sat in the back of the rental car, my head resting against the window as we rolled through the strange countryside. Since the time we left Edinburgh, Tony and I had been talking non-stop. For a boy who didn't want to be in Scotland, he sure seemed excited. We laughed about the amount of sheep there were; we had never actually seen a real live sheep before, and it was kind of exciting. But after a while, we got bored with the same scenery, and the chatter slowly died down. No one had said much of anything for a while, now, and I was starting to fall asleep.

With neither of us making any noise, and both of us leaned up against our doors, Mom and Dad must had thought that both Tony and I were asleep.

"I told you that it wouldn't be so bad," Dad said. "They don't seem upset at all."

"It's just exciting," Mom whispered back. "It's our first day here; there is so much to see that the fact that this is home hasn't quite set in yet. It's just like another vacation for them right now."

"Everything will be fine," Dad chuckled. "I'm sure that they'll handle everything great."

"I'm worried about when they start school," Mom said quietly. "You don't know what it's like to move schools in the middle of a semester. We should have waited until the summer."

"We've discussed this, Dottie," Dad said a bit sharply. "You know that I couldn't wait until then; McAshton wants this to be ready to go by then. Like I said, everything will be fine. Even Jennie seems to think so."

"Jennie makes friends easily," Mom said. "It's not her I'm worried about, Bob."

I glanced at Tony quickly, but he was fast asleep; he couldn't hear anything that they were saying.

"Oh, come on, Dot; it won't be that bad," Dad tried to soothe her. "Just give Tony some time to adjust and soon he'll have just as many friends as he did in San Diego."

I mentally face-palmed myself at my father's obliviousness; he was a great father, he really was, but he was really busy, and sometimes didn't really notice what was going on in our lives.

"That's the problem, Bob," Mom said, sighing heavily. "Tony didn't have any friends at home."

"Really?" he seemed genuinely surprised. "Well, then maybe now he can make some; it'll be a whole new start for him."

Mom didn't say anything else, apparently giving up on trying to get Dad to see that maybe this wasn't the best idea. I rolled my eyes and tried to focus on something, anything, to get my mind off of their conversation, but nothing worked. I was just as worried about Tony as my mother was. But then, I thought to myself, maybe Dad is right. Maybe he will be able to start all over again. The kids at home were kind of assholes, anyway.

I was beginning to fall asleep when we finally turned off the main road and onto a smaller one. It was bumpy, not paved nearly as well as the main one was. Dad hit a big pothole and I cracked my head off the window, hard. I was awake.

"Ouch!" I moaned, holding my hand to my temple.

"Oh, are you awake, Sweetheart?" Mom asked.

"I am now," I replied grumpily. "How much further?"

"We're just about there," Dad said, sounding very excited. "Believe me, girls, I've got a real treat in store for you."

"I wish you would just out with it," Mom sighed. "You've been going on about this 'big surprise' for weeks now."

"It's a secret worth keeping," he chuckled.

I smiled and shook my head. Dad always got way too excited about surprises, whether he was planning them or receiving them. It probably wasn't even that exciting; he probably bought us all matching kilts or something strange like that.

"Here we are," he called loudly, pulling up a long drive.

I looked out the window and my mouth fell open. The idea of kilts was now gone from my mind as I looked at the _real s_urprise.

At the end of the drive way was a huge, stone house with turrets and balconies; a castle. It was already completely lit up, as though it was waiting for us. It was beautiful.

"Oh my God, Bob!" Mom gasped. "A castle?"

"Welcome to our new home," Dad chuckled as he stopped the car in front of the front door.

"Holy crap!" I laughed. "Look at this place would you?"

I looked at my brother and sighed in exasperation. Somehow, he had managed to sleep through mine and Mom's excited squealing and was still passed out with his face pressed against the glass of the window.

"Tony!" I cried, shaking him roughly. "Wake up! We're here!"

Slowly, he opened his eyes and looked around, taking in the brightly lit castle and yard, and then turned to look at my father and mother.

"Is this our house?" he asked in a high-pitched voice.

"It sure is, buddy," Dad said brightly. "Come on, it's late; let's get our stuff inside."

Tony and I jumped out of the car almost before Dad had finished his sentence. We waited by the trunk while Mom and Dad climbed slowly out of the car.

"Hurry up!" I cried. "I want to get inside!"

"Hold your horses," Dad chuckled. "We're coming."

He pushed between us and popped the trunk open. Tony and I dove in and grabbed our bags. It took me a minute to grab all three of mine, but as soon as they were out of the trunk and on the ground, I took off towards the house. Seeing as Tony only had one bag, he made it to the house before I did. Apparently the door was unlocked, because he burst through the front door, making it slam on the wall.

"Take it easy, Tony," Dad admonished as he walked along behind me. "We don't need to take the walls down."

"Sorry, Dad," Tony yelled. He dropped his suitcase on the floor in the entry way and hurried through the rest of the house. "Wow, this place is awesome!"

I stepped into the entry of the house and grinned. I wouldn't admit it out loud, but I was just about as excited about the house as Tony was. I pushed my bags up against the wall to get them out of the way, and then hurried after my brother.

The living room was beautifully decorated; it still had the original stone walls and a huge fireplace that took up almost one entire side of the room. The furniture wasn't the prettiest that I had ever seen, but it looked extremely comfortable. All-in-all, I thought that it looked just like a castle should. I hurried into the kitchen, which was typically my favourite room in the house, and squealed. The room was massive, with beautiful oak cabinets and a cute little breakfast nook with a ton of windows. From what I heard about Scotland, there wasn't going to be a whole lot of sunshine, so it was good to have as many windows as possible.

"First dibs on rooms!" Tony yelled as he streaked past me.

"No way!" I yelled back, hurrying out of the room after him. "I'm the oldest, Tony, I get first pick!"

Tony had a good head start so, obviously, he got to the top of the stairs before I did. I reached the top just in time to see him disappear through a heavy-looking wooden door. I dashed into the room behind him.

"I call this room!" he cheered loudly. "It's mine!"

"So not fair!" I huffed, crossing my arms across my chest.

The room was huge, with a fireplace on the wall across from the bed, and a huge sash window that led out onto a balcony directly across from the door. Unlike downstairs, it was completely empty.

"I got here first, Jennifer," Tony stated. "So it is too fair."

"Come on, Tony, I'm older, so I should pick first."

"Why does that matter?" he scoffed. "You're just sulking because you're not as fast a runner as me."

"What does that have anything to do with picking rooms?" I asked. "And you are not faster than me, you little snot."

"That's enough, you two. Come on, Jennie," Mom said, walking into the room and wrapping her arm around my shoulders. "Let Tony have this room; maybe it will make him feel a little bit better about being here."

"I don't really want to be here, either, Mom," I sulked as she led me out of the room. "Why does Tony get the good room?"

"He doesn't," she whispered, grinning at me. "I just had a peek around the house while you were fighting with your brother, and I think you should go take a look in there." She pointed to another door, half hidden behind a large tapestry, in the corner of the hallway. I gave her a funny look, and she grinned. "Go on; take a look."

I sighed and walked towards the door. I took the large, iron door handle in my hand and pulled. I was surprised by what I saw. Instead of a small, dank bedroom, like I had been expecting, there was instead a set of stone spiral stairs leading up. I looked back at my mother, but she was gone.

I started up the stairs, and at the top, there was another door, identical to the first one. I pulled it open, and gasped. The room was massive, almost twice the size of Tony's. The walls were plastered, so they could be painted, and there was a huge stone fireplace against one wall. A set of French doors led out onto a small balcony, and there was a smaller window beside the fireplace. Another door stood on the other side of the room.

"Holy crap!" I gasped. "This is awesome!"

"Did you look in there yet?" Mom had silently come up the stairs and was standing in my doorway, pointing at the small door in the corner.

"No," I replied, looking at the door. "What is it?"

"Your closet," she replied, grinning. "Go ahead and take a look."

I pulled the door open and a small scream escaped from my throat. The closet was a walk-in, with shelves and hanging rods lining every inch of the walls.

"Oh my God, Mom!" I exclaimed. "This is unbelievable! Look at this; it's like a whole other bedroom."

"I know," Mom laughed. "I was half tempted to take this room for myself, but Dad didn't like all the stairs."

"Well, thank you, Daddy," I exclaimed, grinning at her.

I could hear the loud thumping of someone coming up the stairs, and a moment later, my father appeared in the doorway, huffing and puffing, with an armload of blankets and a pillow.

"What are those for?" I asked, watching as Mom extracted what looked like a large, inflatable raft from under the load in my father's arms.

"There are no beds, silly," she said. "So we're going to have to make do for the next couple of days with some air mattresses. Your dad and I will set one up in our room, and you and Tony can sleep in here."

I looked in disgust at the bundle of folded plastic that my mother held. That was going to be my bed? I could hardly imagine that I was going to be able to sleep on that, let alone lying next to Tony, who could pass as a world class boxer in his sleep.

"Why don't you and I go grab your bags," Mom said, laying the air mattress out on the floor. "When we come back up, I'm sure that Dad will have the air mattress all set up, won't you, Bob."

Dad looked like he was going to argue with her, but Mom raised her eyebrow at him, and he nodded quickly. "Yes Dottie."

"Good. Let's go."

I followed my mother back down the spiral stairs to the second floor hallway. I had left my bags sitting beside the door, but they had somehow made their way up the stairs, and were now leaning against the wall just outside Tony's bedroom.

"Come on, Tony," Mom called as she took the handle of one of my suitcases. "You're sleeping upstairs with Jennifer tonight. Put on your PJ's and hurry on up."

"I don't want to go to bed yet!" Tony complained.

"Now, Tony!" Mom picked up the back with some difficulty and began to walk back towards my room.

I heard my brother huff loudly, and then the sound of him unzipping the suitcase to do what my mother had told him. I grinned and hurried to haul my other two bags back to my new bedroom.

Mom was right; by the time that I finally managed to lug my two heavy bags up the staircase, Dad had the mattress blown up in the middle of the floor, and he and Mom were making it up with sheets and blankets.

"There, that should be nice and cozy," Mom said, standing up and looking down at their handiwork. "At least for a couple of nights."

I had to admit, it did look more comfortable than I had originally thought it would.

"Alright," Dad said, stretching his back. "I'm going downstairs to make my own bed, and then I am going to sleep for the next two weeks. Are you good on your own now, Jennie?"

"I should be fine, Dad," I replied. "I'm just going to change, and then go to bed myself."

"Okay; good night, sweetie." He walked over, kissed me on the forehead and left the room.

Mom did the same. "I'll send Tony up in a minute."

"Night, mom."

She left the room, and I changed quickly into a pair of boxer shorts and a loose t-shirt. I heard the sound of a pair of small bare feet making their way up the stairs, and I slipped into bed. I was surprised; it _was _comfortable.

"Hey!" Tony whined when he pushed the door open. "Why do you get the cool room?"

"Because you called dibs downstairs," I yawned, grinning at him. "Now turn off the light and get into bed; it's late and I'm tired."


End file.
